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ONS AND INDIA: EVOLUTION AND STATE OF PLAY Article
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cks the evolution of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) negotiations since its inception, and provides a concise overview of the current state of  
r covers key issues under the purview of the GATS from an Indian perspective, and makes important policy suggestions for India on certain sensitive sectors like   More Working Papers
, audio-visual and legal services. To download the full paper in PDF format, click here.
The Current Trade Fram
Linkages in Developing
eralisation in services through multilateral negotiations is a relatively new phenomenon. The Uruguay Round (1986-94), which culminated in the establishment of the Introductory Survey of
January 1, 1995, brought services within the ambit of the multilateral trade negotiations for the first time. Reference to India
The EU - India FTA Crit
Time of Crisis
position posed by a number of developing countries, the Uruguay Round did succeed in setting in place a sort of a framework agreement called the GATS.
CBDR Principle and Rec
the UNFCCC
Anti-dumping protectio
GATS Protection of Geograph
overview of select issue
reference to India
er its purview the entire gamut of services trade, as classified into 161 service activities under 12 broad sector heads in the GATS sectoral classification list. Ensuring adequate flexi
Products: A case study
Industrial tariffs and So
of coverage was achieved at the cost of certain flexibilities. One of the key flexibilities embedded in the GATS is the discretion that a member country of the WTO
for development
h of the services sectors it wants to schedule for undertaking liberalisation commitments under the GATS rules. This is often termed a ‘positive list’ approach or a
Agriculture and NAMA n
for the landing zone
NAMA tariff negotiation
Asia's best options?
complex nature and diverse forms of international transactions in services, the GATS adopted a novel approach of classifying the entire range of services trade into
Contract farming for ag
How long can the G20 h
Agricultural subsidies a
Strategies and options
oss-border) Tackling non-tariff barr
nsumption abroad)  

mmercial presence)

ovement of natural persons)

r elements, consists of a series of general provisions that largely apply across the board to all measures affecting trade in services.

o includes a set of ‘specific commitments’ that applies only to service sectors that are enlisted in a member’s GATS schedule. For each specific sector scheduled by it,
specific commitments’ on market access (MA) and national treatment (NT) for each mode of services trade.

need not grant full MA and can deny NT by inscribing limitations on MA and/or NT in their respective schedules.

GUAY ROUND

e Uruguay Round, in terms of liberalisation of the services trade, was rather modest. Members at best bound the status quo for the most part, and sometimes even
tus quo.

IONS

’ agenda of the GATS, regarding successive rounds of negotiations towards achieving progressive liberalisation in the services trade, a new round of services
GATS 2000’, was launched in January 2000. The guidelines for these negotiations had two mandates: (i) market access, and (ii) rule-making.

ations were subsequently subsumed by the Doha Development Agenda in November 2001.

EQUEST-OFFER’ APPROACH

market access negotiations on services initially proceeded on the basis of the bilateral ‘request-offer’ approach. However, due to various reasons, some technical and
eral approach failed to generate sufficient momentum at the GATS 2000 negotiations.

the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration of December 2005 mandated the adoption of a plurilateral ‘request-offer’ approach as a complementary method of negotiation
 ing the market access negotiations on services.

000 negotiations proceeded primarily on the basis of the plurilateral approach, until July 24, 2006, when the Doha Round was temporarily suspended owing to the
(Australia, Brazil, the EU, India, Japan and the US) to arrive at a landing zone on key issues relating to domestic support and market access in agriculture.

AND INDIA

tion on services has undergone a paradigm shift since the Uruguay Round. From being a leading opponent of the GATS, India has now emerged as one of the
trade liberalisation under the GATS.

nce on services is partly attributable to the growing importance of the services sector in its economy. With a vast pool of educated and skilled workers in its workforce
interest in the export of Mode 1 and Mode 4-based services and is hence aggressively participating in the ongoing GATS 2000 negotiations.

EQUEST-OFFER’ APPROACH AND INDIA

mitted in January 2004, was rather conservative. It came out with an ambitious revised offer in August 2005. In the post-Hong Kong Ministerial period, India has
quests in a range of services. It is learnt that India would be expected to meet the requests primarily in the areas of telecommunications, finance, parts of the energy
ail) and courier services, including express delivery.

t it can meet requests substantially in sectors like construction and related engineering services and maritime transport services. Requests are also likely to be
rgy and telecommunications.

nd now, it would be difficult for India to meet the requests in legal services, retailing services, private education and audio-visual services, owing to domestic
eas.

ve interests in Modes 1 and 4 go, an assessment of the offers placed by some of the developed countries that constitute the key target markets for Indian service-
als that there has been very modest movement in India’s favour.

nces, India should hold back any further ambitious offers in services; these offers may be used as a bargaining chip in future negotiations to push through its
Modes 1 and 4, the paper suggests.

s that India should refrain from considering any compromise on its interests in agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) for pushing through its
ervices.

cenario in Modes 1 and 4, there are not enough grounds for India to make compromises related to the livelihood of millions of vulnerable farmers or the survival of
es.